Crazy, Stupid, Love (11/1/2011)

Rated PG-13 for coarse humor, sexual content and language.

Starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei

Directed by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (I Love You, Phillip Morris)

A pretty funny movie about life and love…but don’t let your teenager watch it.

At fortysomething, straight-laced Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) is living the dream–good job, nice house, great kids and marriage to his high school sweetheart. But when Cal learns that his wife, Emily (Julianne Moore), has cheated on him and wants a divorce, his “perfect” life quickly unravels. Worse, in today’s single world, Cal, who hasn’t dated in decades, stands out as the epitome of un-smooth. Now spending his free evenings sulking alone at a local bar, the hapless Cal is taken on as wingman and protégé to handsome, thirty-something player Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling). In an effort to help Cal get over his wife and start living his life, Jacob opens Cal’s eyes to the many options before him: flirty women, manly drinks and a sense of style that can’t be found at Supercuts or The Gap. Cal and Emily aren’t the only ones looking for love in what might be all the wrong places: Cal’s 13-year-old son, Robbie, is crazy about his 17-year-old babysitter, Jessica, who harbors a crush on Cal. And despite Cal’s makeover and his many new conquests, the one thing that can’t be made over is his heart, which seems to keep leading him back to where he began.

OK, first of all you need to know that this film is not family friendly. The themes and messages of this movie are both “CRAZY” and “STUPID.” There is everything from adultery and very casual sex to teenagers taking pictures of themselves naked. And while there is no nudity shown, the message is loud and clear… “Everyone is doing it, and no one is faithful.” And although the film tries to make a positive statement on fidelity, it takes the long dirty road to get there.

That being said, there are some very solid performances by some of Hollywood’s biggest names; Steve Carell is hilarious and sympathetic at the same time and Ryan Gosling is the perfect ying to his yang. Emma Stone and Julianne Moore both deliver fun and powerful performances. And Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei are great as the objects of affection.

There are also plenty of laughs. Whether it was Steve Carell rolling out of a car or the big fight scene at the end… I enjoyed the comedy side of the film. And while I was laughing one minute, I was a little choked up the next – you just can’t help but feel bad for these characters.

Finally there is the story line… not the story – that was all about sex, but the story line. The best way to describe it (without giving too much away) is that Crazy, Stupid, Love is what you get when you cross Pulp Fiction with The Story of Us (I know, I know both old Bruce Willis movies… I’ve told you before – I am a huge Bruce Willis fan!)

I hated the message, but I loved the packaging… let’s split the difference and call it a Rental.

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
There is no nudity, but plenty of sexual content. For example a 17 year old takes risque photos of herself, a 13 year old boy is caught masturbating under his bed covers, plenty of sexual encounters and it is always portrayed as casual and meaningless. There is also a montage of scenes where we see Ryan Gosling asking several different women at bars if they “Want to get out of here” and all of the women agree – implying one night stands. The F-word is used once and there are plenty of other swear words.

Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):

Q: What’s the message/theme of this movie?
A: As I said in the review, this movie portrays sex in a casual and meaningless way. And although they try to make a positive statement on loyalty and commitment, it glorifies sexual promiscuity.

Q: How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?
A: There are over 500 verses in the Bible that talk about marriage and obviously we can’t cover all of them. But let’s look at one key passage that tells us about the very first wedding.

Read Gen. 2:18, 21-2 The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’… and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh… Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (NIV)

What can we conclude about marriage from this account in Genesis? (Marriage is God’s idea, it was designed and instituted by the Creator. In these verses we also discover that at the heart of God’s design for marriage is companionship and intimacy.)

Q: How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
A: Most of us will be having a conversation with a teenager who has no interest in getting married. But we can use this movie and conversation about marriage to discuss the who’s, how’s and when’s of dating.

Use this time to talk about standards and practices of dating.